Scouting Notes - October 2007

Publication provides LBAM specifics. UC IPM produced a publication about light brown apple moth (Epiphyas postvittana), a new exotic pest now under quarantine regulation in California . The publication is intended to answer questions about the moth, its biology, management, regulation and possible impacts on California commodities and residential areas. In March, the moth was confirmed in California by USDA’s Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service.

For more: UC IPM, (530) 752-8350; www.ipm.ucdavis.edu.

High thrips populations in Maryland . University of Maryland Cooperative Extension reported that thrips were at an all-time high this summer in greenhouses and in cut flowers. They were found on Aztec verbena, mandevilla, marigolds, hibiscus, geraniums, vinca, impatiens and sweet potato vine. Damage was also seen on vegetable transplants. A very high number have been counted on field-grown verbena.

For more: University of Maryland , (301) 596-9413; www.agnr.umd.edu/ipmnet.

Mum growers, watch for leaf miner. Growers of garden mums should be on the lookout for the leaf miner Liriomyza trifolii.  University of Connecticut Extension horticulture and greenhouse IPM specialist Leanne Pundt said to look for narrow mines that wind around the leaves, with some brown tip dieback. She said herbaceous perennial growers have also noted seeing Liriomyza damage on Helenium, Leucanthemum and Gaillardia in recent years.

For more: Leanne Pundt, University of Connecticut , (860) 626-6240; www.negreenhouseupdate.info.

Stopping plant virus could impact HIV prevention. A study by Purdue University researchers to stop virus reproduction in plants could lead to new ways to prevent infection by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and similar organisms.

Cauliflower mosaic virus, which attacks a plant group that includes cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage, and HIV, which causes AIDS, use the same process to multiply in their victims’ cells and spread disease.

Botany professor Zhixiang Chen and his colleagues have found that cauliflower mosaic virus relies on the same protein complex to multiply in plants. He said the proteins in the host plants might be particularly important for these types of viruses, such as HIV, because if they are blocked, then the viruses can’t replicate.

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For more: Zhixiang Chen, (765) 494-4657; http://news.uns.purdue.edu.